Key

[Vorathiel]

First thing - I have read Planetarian. I predicted what will drama be about before I even get to met main character (I didn't know anything about it before I started reading). And while it was as chliched in that aspect as it could be, it was still entertaining in 'crying factor' way.

Maybe it's time to bite somehting bigger. Almost every Key title is highly rated, very long and popular.
Please, write something to hype me up for some Key titles (as well as recommend from which title start).

I must add that I didn't really liked heroines' dramas in G-Senjou, I absolutly hated awfully written dramas in Sharin no Kuni, and madly laughed at stupidity of some dramas in Hoshimemo (Asuho, Isuzu, Chinami, while twins dramas were rather neat, but nothing 'clicking' with me on emotionall level). Also enjoyed Ayamine Key drama in Muv-Luv EXTRA, enjoyed bullying story in Yume Miru Kursui, while didn't liking both others.
Other than that... Well, I didn't really encountered any other 'heroine dramas'.
Dramas that struct me the most, were dramas in Steins;Gate and Muv Luv Alternative - dramas that was hitting protagonsits directly and I could feel his pain. If I can't get a connection to character (like with some stupid heroine with over the top drama she made for herself instead of just rationaly solve the little problem she have at the beggining) I won't enjoy the drama.

So, to main question, cause I detoured too much - please recommend me one KEY title you thing is the most worth reading one, and please SPOIL me a short summary of one, not the best, but middle-good drama that this VN contain. Yes I want to be spoiled. Not about everythng, but about few dramas that aren't the best ones (this I want to discover by myself), but still could hook me into vn. Hope this will work out.

[solidbatman]

Based what you listed, I don't think you will actually like most Key works. Give Rewrite a shot though. Its very different from the rest of Key's longer VNs and one of the only other ones, aside from Planetarian, not written by Jun Meada. As for a summary, magic n shit is the best way to sum it up quickly. 

[Nosebleed]

You've already read the only really good Key VN which is Planetarian. It's time to move on before you fall into Jun Maeda's traps.

I guess Air is also worth it.

[Arcadeotic]

Planetarian is honestly the only one Key novel I like, aside from Little Busters (and that was the EX routes)

I don't really have anything else to say but "move on" I guess

[Funnerific]

Rewrite, obviously.

The routes vary in quality due to the game having several writers though, with the true route potentially holding the most value. Or you could end up hating it, it depends.

[Vorathiel]

No Clannad lovers here?  

I read Air 'settings and themes' on wikipedia and found this hilarious:
 

Quote

As indicated by the title, air, skies and wings are important themes: Yukito is searching for the "girl in the sky",[4] and Misuzu believes her other self is flying in the sky above her. Other characters show a similar relationship to the sky, such as Minagi who is a member of the astronomy club,[9] and Michiru who has a fondness for bubbles that float in the air. Kano wants wings to fly, and Kanna already has them. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_(visual_novel)

This doesn't sounds good. But I'm interested in Rewrite now.

[Tyrael]

Rewrite! It is without a doubt one of the best VN's I have ever read so far. All the girls have interesting (and fairly dramatic) backstories, are cute and make the whole thing a blast to read. It has by far the best comedic moments of any Key VN and the drama hits home. It is also a departure from most high school centric romance VN's since the whole thing is just a part of something much greater that really manages to 'get you', no matter what side you actually end up on. Highly recommended.

 

Other than that, I fear you will hate Key's more traditional VN's like Clannad, Kanon and Little Busters because they are very much centered around the kind of dramatic moments you seem to dislike, so yeah...

[john 'mr. customer' smith]

Clannad does have some extremely mature, well written and emotional moments, but from your perspective, you'll have to dig through a lot of mediocrity to get to them. also, the ending is hit or miss. Definitely hit for me, but there you are.

[Vorathiel]

Hey, I don't dislike dramatic moments. I dislike only bad written ones. I read a lot of books, a lot of it has dramas that were down to earth, 'human'. But they were reall dramas and not some simple problems that could be solved in one sentence, but instead inflated to enormous sizes. I like my characters and their dramas realistic.

Hoshimemo minor spoiler:

Spoiler

Nobody is going to school roof everynight to look through damaged telescope which shows nothing, because they're homesick and really liked stars at home.

And dramas in Sharin no Kuni were actually intersting 'at paper', like struggling with 'I cannot get my shit together and start woking', or 'I can't choose between my biological and adopted family', but executed horribly horrible and that's where my dislike came from. It's not that I don't like 'normal, life oriented' dramas. So that's why I wanted something from Key, which seems to be like 'masters of slice of life dramas' in VN category.

[VirginSmasher]

If you want to try getting into Key, I suggest trying out the higher rated titles like Rewrite and Little Busters. If you like those two, you can try Clannad, Kanon, and Air. That's how I'd approach Key. All Key titles are kinda entertaining in the crying factor. It's just some are stronger at pulling these emotions than others.

[Tyrael]

28 minutes ago, VirginSmasher said:

If you want to try getting into Key, I suggest trying out the higher rated titles like Rewrite and Little Busters. If you like those two, you can try Clannad, Kanon, and Air. That's how I'd approach Key. All Key titles are kinda entertaining in the crying factor. It's just some are stronger at pulling these emotions than others.

Disagreed, Little Busters is rather overrated, and I'm saying this as a Key fanboy. I still think it's a good and entertaining work but that's almost solely because of the true route. The rest of it is hit or miss but I'd say the majority of it is actually quite mediocre.

You could also argue that Clannad is overrated as it has a few mediocre routes but when you consider the fact that the main game has 10 routes (+ after story) it's hard to really hold it against Key, tbh. Kanon and Air suffer from more issues than I can count, unfortunately. The biggest drawback for those games would be the extremely outdated artstyle and the abysmal H-scenes (oh god, the cringe).

[VirginSmasher]

22 minutes ago, Tyrael said:

Disagreed, Little Busters is rather overrated, and I'm saying this as a Key fanboy. I still think it's a good and entertaining work but that's almost solely because of the true route. The rest of it is hit or miss but I'd say the majority of it is actually quite mediocre.

You could also argue that Clannad is overrated has a few mediocre routes but when you consider the fact that the main game has 10 routes (+ after story) it's hard to really hold it against Key, tbh. Kanon and Air suffer from more issues than I can count, unfortunately. The biggest drawback for those games would be the extremely outdated artstyle and the abysmal H-scenes (oh god, the cringe).

What I was trying to say if that he should try Rewrite and Little Busters because they're pretty much what you're gonna get from Key overall. If he doesn't like them, he shouldn't try the others because he's not gonna be a fan. And on the artstyle thing with Kanon and Air, the artstyle isn't great. Hell, in Kanon, it's pretty bad, but I don't let bad art get in the way of a good story. It's really stupid to hate a VN because its artstyle isn't up to par.

[Fred the Barber]

Keep in mind that with the longer Key VNs, you're going have a much longer slice-of-life setup before the drama begins, compared to Planetarian. Assuming you're prepared for that...

I'd recommend Little Busters!, or maybe Rewrite. Not Clannad, and definitely not Kanon. I haven't played Air yet, so I can't say either way on that one.

Here's some thoughts behind each one (except Air):

- Kanon, frankly, is showing its age, and I think pretty much the entire story is actually told better in the 2006 KyoAni anime adaptation (with the lone exception being Nayuki's route). Kanon has H-scenes, which if you've played a Key VN with H-scenes, you'll know is actually a negative, not a positive, regardless of your stance on H. The biggest problem I have with the Kanon VN is that there's very little interaction among the cast - almost all scenes take place one-on-one between the MC (who is as blank a slate as you will ever see) and the heroine.

- Clannad feels a little long-winded and basically requires a guide - spending a lot of time skipping and then choosing the answer the guide told me to pulled me out of the story a lot more than I expected. There are definitely some great moments in the regular route endings, but Clannad's strongest moments, by far, are in After Story, which it will take you a long time to get to. And some of the people who deserve better (like Akio) get kind of screwed on the routes. I think the VN is better than the anime adaptation, but only if you're willing to slog it out through a ton of replays of basically the same material in the common route. It's a pretty exhausting VN. It does a fair bit better than Kanon in terms of group dynamics - given that the overall theme of the VN is "family", that's to be expected, but it's still not as well done as it is in...

- Little Busters! is the apex of the Key formula. It's still a long VN with a fair bit of branching, but unlike Clannad I don't think I ever looked at any kind of guide and was easily able to complete everything. So, Little Busters! is much better paced for someone who plans to play the whole thing sequentially. In sharp contrast to what I mentioned for Kanon, and even much more so than Clannad, Little Busters! is all about group dynamics, and watching the varied group members play off each other is a real joy. More than it is about romance, this VN is about friendship - if that's something that resonates strongly with you, then you probably already know it and are interested. If it doesn't maybe this isn't for you. Also, I won't deny that I really enjoyed playing the baseball mini-game, right up to the end. Character design and art improved in Little Busters! vs. the previous key VNs, but it's still not great.

- Rewrite is a very different game from the rest of the Key VNs - it uses the Key formula early on, but breaks out of the mold in a pretty remarkable way. The last two routes are fantastic, IMO, and early routes are generally solid, standard fare. Character design and art is again noticeably better in Rewrite vs. past Key games, including Little Busters!.

All the games have excellent music. Music is, in my opinion, Key's greatest strength - they write good music, and they place it well to build and set mood. Just had an interesting thought: I wonder if there's any correlation between degree of passion for VN music and liking Key games...

Anyway, that's all I got. Key is divisive, but popular. Don't be afraid to say you like it, but don't be afraid to say you don't like it; you'll be in good company either way. And good for you for not being too narrow-minded to even try it, especially given all the negativity around it lately on this forum.

38 minutes ago, VirginSmasher said:

It's really stupid to hate s VN because its artstyle isn't up to par.

No, it's stupid to call people stupid for disliking things for easily-explained, factually-correct reasons. It's perfectly fine for you to not be bothered by bad art in VNs which you think are otherwise good; and it's also perfectly fine for other people to be bothered by it, even to such an extent that they decide not to play those games, or to such an extent that they are unable to enjoy them. It's just a matter of taste. Calling out that the art is bad (which, in Kanon and Air especially, it really is) is a simple data point that may very well be a relevant factor, depending on a person's taste. The same could be said for plot, characters, music, ... all of them are of varying importance to individuals. Not everybody has exactly the same values as you do.

[Guest]

Clannad is amazing, don't listen to the haters.
The drama is 100 times more relatable than in any other Visual Novel, and I think all the characters are amazing.

Classic school setting but it doesn't stop to the first kiss. If Clannad is good, then the after Story that is amazing.

Sure planetarian was very good, but it's also easier not to make mistakes when the game is so short.

 

I think Clannad is worth it every day and night, go for it and build your own opinion. Maybe the length will put you off, that's what seems to be the main problem to most poeple.

 

PS: Pisses me off that people state their opinions as facts. "Move on" don't make me laugh. If you didn't get the point of the game, then it's too bad for you.

[VirginSmasher]

15 minutes ago, Fred the Barber said:

No, it's stupid to call people stupid for disliking things for easily-explained, factually-correct reasons. It's perfectly fine for you to not be bothered by bad art in VNs which you think are otherwise good; and it's also perfectly fine for other people to be bothered by it, even to such an extent that they decide not to play those games, or to such an extent that they are unable to enjoy them. It's just a matter of taste. Calling out that the art is bad (which, in Kanon and Air especially, it really is) is a simple data point that may very well be a relevant factor, depending on a person's taste. The same could be said for plot, characters, music, ... all of them are of varying importance to individuals. Not everybody has exactly the same values as you do.

What I was saying with the artstyle thing was that you shouldn't judge a VN based on the art. If you give a VN a low score because it has bad art, you're not looking at the other aspects of the VN. There is plot, characters, music, and all these other things to look at. You're right, bad art is a valid criticism and can detract from the experience, but to hate a VN over it? I just don't understand that part.

[Fred the Barber]

9 minutes ago, VirginSmasher said:

What I was saying with the artstyle thing was that you shouldn't judge a VN based on the art. If you give a VN a low score because it has bad art, you're not looking at the other aspects of the VN. There is plot, characters, music, and all these other things to look at. You're right, bad art is a valid criticism and can detract from the experience, but to hate a VN over it? I just don't understand that part.

Ok... but nobody did that. Here's what Tyrael said about art:

51 minutes ago, Tyrael said:

Kanon and Air suffer from more issues than I can count, unfortunately. The biggest drawback for those games would be the extremely outdated artstyle and the abysmal H-scenes (oh god, the cringe).

So, the bad art is one of the two biggest drawbacks among "more issues than [Tyrael] can count". Nobody's hating a VN purely based on the art (which everybody agrees is bad) here.

[Ariurotl]

1 hour ago, maefdomn said:

Clannad is amazing, don't listen to the haters.

<snip>

PS: Pisses me off that people state their opinions as facts.

Hmm...

[Okarin]

Only thing I can say, is that Key's novels come packed with heroines (usually 5 and up) and that it's very hard for any novel, Key or not, to keep quality and a diverse audience hooked for the entirety of the routes. Tl; dr you'll like some routes and probably dislike or be overly neutral to others. Also tropes apply, so it can't be helped that some characters score with you and others don't.

[Vorathiel]

2 hours ago, Fred the Barber said:

.:LONG POST:.

Thanks for that! It got me interested in Little Busters.  But you kept saying about 'Key forumla', and...what is that? All I know about Key is that they're builded: common route + different routes for different characters with dramas that are supposed to make you cry. Was you talking about this?

EDIT:
Also - nothing on Angel Beats? Or you just didn't read it yet?

[Okarin]

"Key formula" is difficult to explain sans spoilers; but you play any game and it's sort of repeated through all of them. More different game could be Rewrite, which is also the most recent. But it does maintain the heavy fantasy elements, and I can't tell about the ending because I haven't finished it.

[Ariurotl]

It's basically magical elements employed to magically solve or at least help solve otherwise rather unsolvable issues.

[ChaosRaven]

In general I think Key's animes stand out much more than their visual novels and I would definitely suggest to watch at least Kanon, Clannad and Angel Beats.

Clannad is Key's most popular VN and certainly worth a read even if the routes vary greatly in quality. It's the only Key VN I liked except Kanon, but the Kanon anime is vastly superior to the VN. Little Busters had a wimp protagonist and all the good heroines had either a bad routes or were just side characters. The VN would have been vastly superior if Kyousuke would have been the protagonist. Rewrite had the most interesting scenario by far, but several characters going nazi in their routes ruined it for me. Most people don't seem to care about that though.

Overall, I think your best bet would be either reading Clannad or Rewrite depending on your mood.

[Vorathiel]

1 minute ago, ChaosRaven said:

several characters going nazi 

You mean literaly, or just figuratively?

4 minutes ago, Okarin said:

"Key formula" is different to explain sans spoilers; but you play any game and it's sort of repeated through all of them.

That's why I asked in first post to SPOIL some of this Key 'mystery'.

[Okarin]

Well I played one route of Rewrite, and it ruined the character for me. I was better off when I knew little of her. The route had interesting things but too many twists and by the end I was hoping for it to be over once and for all.

You shouldn't spoil the Key ingredient, you should go play your Key game of choice and if you like it, then go try some other.

Oh! No one mentioned that Key's humour can kill some people and it's not for everyone. Sometimes it's just cringeworthy.

[ChaosRaven]

23 minutes ago, Vorathiel said:

You mean literaly, or just figuratively?

Pretty literaly. Let's see...

Spoiler

...one heroine mass murders more than one billion people (~150 times more than the holocaust) with little to no regret except that she didn't get all humans because that's the only solution she could come up to solve the economic problems with her limited mind. And the other one wipes out a whole city with more than 100.000 people just because... why not?!